I settle back into the bed, sulking.
“I can already tell you’re going to be a terrible patient.” He sits on the bed next to me. “Seriously Maddie, I know you’re feeling better, but you’re not out of the woods. You’re always preaching to me that I need to take care of myself, and now it’s your turn.”
“Thank goodness I have a fiancé to take care of me.”
Roman freezes. “I panicked. I told the nurses I was your fiancé so that they would give me information on you, and then one ofthem called me that in front of your dad,” he rambles, anxious. “Don’t be mad at me. I was just worried about you and I...”
I lean forward and brush a kiss across his lips. “Would you relax? It’s okay. I kind of like being called your fiancé.”
Roman breaks out into a smile. “You do?”
I nod. “Someday, anyway. I think we’ve had plenty of excitement over the last few days.”
He climbs in next to me and wraps his arm over my shoulder and the two of us lay there enjoying our ice cream in perfect silence.
“For the record, I like the sound of it, too,” Roman says. “And I fully intend on making an honest woman out of you very, very soon.”
His words send a giddy rush through me. The last few weeks have been such an emotional rollercoaster and now here we are. There is nothing in the world that would make me happier than the idea of spending the rest of my life with Ty and Roman, my own perfect little family. I hate to think about everything we had to go through to get to this point, but at the end of the day, our love was the only thing that matters.
I can’t wait to get home to Ty, but right now, all I want to do is enjoy my time with Roman, and relish in this moment. We may be cooped up in a stuffy hospital room, but right now, I am on top of the world.
Chapter Forty-Five
“Okay,easydoesit,”Roman coaches, holding tightly to my arm and guiding me into the house. It has been a few weeks since the explosion and I was finally cleared to fly home.
Despite weeks of rehab and most of my wounds healing up, Roman insists on treating me like I’m made of glass. At first, I was annoyed, but it’s kind of cute and I know there’s no arguing with him. He didn’t leave my side the entire time we were in Denver, refusing to even get a hotel and staying in that tiny hospital room on an awful pullout couch every single night. I think we’re both looking forward to an actual mattress.
Roman fumbles with the keypad and lets us both into the house. I hobble in on my crutches, still not able to put much weight on my leg.
“Let me just get the lights...” Roman flips the switch and, as the foyer lights up, I see a group of people with balloons and posters and flowers and all kinds of things staring back at me. Ty, Peyton, Dante, Joe, and even some people I don’t recognize.
“Surprise!” they all yell.
“Welcome home Maddie!” Ty grins ear to ear, bouncing towards me. He wraps his arms around my waist as tightly as he can.
“Not so hard, buddy,” Roman cautions, ruffling his hair. “She’s still recovering.”
“I missed you!” I kiss the top of his head and give him a tight squeeze back. “Did you plan all of this?”
“For weeks.” Joe smiles. “It’s been all he could talk about. How are you feeling?”
“Not too bad, actually. It’s been a long day of traveling, but I’m happy to be home.”
“And we’re so happy to have you.” Peyton gives me a big hug. “You look great! No one would even know you were nearly blown apart a few weeks ago.” She winks.
“Okay, not in front of the kid.” Roman lets out a sharp laugh.
“Ah, come on Dad.” Ty rolls his eyes. “All the kids at school are talking about it. My teacher thinks it’s so adorable how you saved Maddie.”
“The kid’s right. The phones have been ringing off the hook here.” Dante laughs. “You guys are celebrities.”
My cheeks flush with embarrassment. In preparation for Dr. Bauer’s trial, small details of the incident have leaked out. One of the biggest stories the media is focusing on is Roman and how his heroics saved so many lives that day. And what’s a good story without a romantic twist?
Somehow they found out that the only reason he was even there was to win me back, and they’ve eaten it up. Mostly, we’ve been able to ignore them, but even driving through the security gate was tricky today because of all the reporters and cameras.
“Maddie, you and I haven’t met yet.” A man comes forward who looks just like Roman but with a tinge more gray in hisbeard, and hands me a bouquet. “I’m Emmett, Roman’s older and better-looking brother.”
“You wish!” Roman chuckles, slinging his arm around his brother’s neck. “Good to see you, man. I thought you’d have to be back by now.”
